Spring-cambering machine



Z. 8. LEONARD.

SPRING CAMBERING MACHINE.

APPL|CAT\ON FILED OCT-11, I915- 1,195,241 Patented Aug. 22, 1916.

2 SHEET$SHEET I.

J/VVE/V? Mr W] 71v552555 yea 5y ZELEONARD. I M W Z. B. LEONARD.

SPRING CAMBERING MACHINE.

g a p/zu m ZELEONAPD.

ATTOHA/L'YS'.

ZENAS B. LEONARD,

OF CLEVELAND. OHIO.

SPRING-CAMBERING MACHINE.

Application filed October 11, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ZENAS B. LEONARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring-Cambering Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a spring cambering machine, and the primary object of the invention is to provide a die or former adapted tobe reciprocated in a horizontal plane in co-acting relations with a pressureapplying member to produce two curved leaf springs in each cycle of movement.

A further object is embodied in the oscillatory die orformer which is adapted to be inverted to permit successive cambering operations on a plural number of springs.

Other objects are also embodied in the means for removably securing the cambered springs upon the die or former and in other details of construction, all as hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved cambering machine. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section vertically through the machine. Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating the rack and segment for oscillating and reversing the die supporting member. Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the bolt mechanism for locking the die. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of one end of the die member and locking bolt therefor. Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross section of the machine through the pressure-applying roller, showing a spring leaf in-cross section upon the die beneath the roller. Figs. 7 and 8 are similar transverse sections of the die member in inverted positions to show the releasing operation of the respective gripping fingers for the dies.

The machine comprises a main frame 2, preferably in the form of a metal tank adapted to contain a large body of oil or other suitable quenching liquid. Tracks or guides 3 are mounted longitudinally upon the sides of this tank, a slidable carriage 4 is adapted to be reciprocated in a horizontal plane on said guides by a pair of screws 5 having rotatable bearing in journal boxes 6 on the ends of the tank. Nuts 7 on the carriage 4 engage with the screws, and worm gearing 8 driven by a haft 9 and bevel gears 10, 11 and 12 derived from.

counters operate the screws by power Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, 1916.

Serial No. 55,317.

electric motor 14. An electric solenoid 15 15 adapted to shift the clutch mechanism 16 to produce reversal movements of the screws 5 when the carriage 4 approaches the end of 1ts travel at the opposite ends of the machine, and electricalcontacts 17 and 18 and an electric circuit 19 operatethe solenoid. Obv ously, the reciprocable movement of carriage 4 and control thereof may be produced by any other suitable and practical working device.

Carriage 4 is open at its center and an oscillatory member 20 therein has a transverse shaft or trunnion 21 journaled centrally on the carriage. Sector gears 22 and 23 are fixed upon the opposite ends of shaft 21 and adapted to mesh with short gear racks 24 and 25 fixed upon the tank walls at diagonally opposite points near the ends of the tank. In this way the oscillatory member 20 is oscillated or given one-half of a turn or revolution when the carriage 4 travels to each end of the tank and before it comes to a stop and is reverse in, its travel. Each sector gear rides free of the rack last engaged, and the untoothed portion travels over the rack without engaging it upon a return movement of the carriage. The opposite flat faces of the oscillatory member 20 carry curved dies or formers 26 corresponding to the camber or curve to be produced in a blank plate or strip of metal which is fed to the machine in a heated condition from a furnace orfurnaces, not shown. However, two inclined guides or chutes 27 are shown as irojected from opposite ends of the machine toward the bending or pressureapplying roller to feed the blanks to the machine. This bending roller 28 is carried by a shaft 29 having guiding ends slidably confined within channeled standards 30 fixed upon the machine fra e. Shaft 29 is also provided with fixed stud pins 31 adapted to carry removable weights 32 whereby the weight of the roller may be augmented more or less to perform its rolling function to better advantage with different thicknesses of spring plates 33.

To explain further, when the carriage 4 is traveling toward the roller 28 a spring plate 33 is fed down the incline 27 beneath one of the projecting lips 34 at the front end of each die 26. A central annular groove 35 in the periphery of the roller accommodates ,lip'34 as the die passes beneath the roller, .b t the roller itself eng ge a d bears d n upon the metal strip 33 as the carriage and (lie pass beneath the roller, the roller 28 msing and falling and having a rolling movement corresponding in degree to the curvature of the die, obviously shaping the hot blank or plate 33 ture.

A further forward movement of the car riage and die carrying member brings one sector into meshed relation with one of the racks, whereupon said member is inverted and the curved plate is projected into the oikwithin the tank, first at one end and then successively or step by step throughout its length until the opposite end is carried beneath the surface of the oil, thus producing a perpendicular quench that will not affect or distort the curvature given to the plate. It is desirable also that the curved plate re= main in the oil a minute or more, and for that reason I provide several sets of clamping fingers 36 and 36' at each side of the die member 20 in projecting relations to the cambered surface of each die, wherewith the blank or plate 33 is securely held upon the die after cambering operations. Each clamping finger is pivotally mounted and spring pressed to throw its beveled end 39 inward over the edge of the blank or plate following the pressing of the blank or plate upon the die as it passes beneath roller 28. In this way when the die member 20 is inverted the curved plate 33 remains suspended in the body of oil during the reverse travel of said die member and while a second plate is being cambered on the upper die.

Release and removal of the curved plate after it has been quenched may be effected at the end of the travel of the carriage sub sequent to oscillatory movement of the die member, but as herein shown the quenched plate is released from the fingers and deposited in the bottom of the tank, or upon suitable conveyors therein, after the die member passes beyond the roller 28 and reaches a predetermined position adjacent one of the two sets of inclined brackets 37-37 which are adapted to engage the inner ends of all the fingers of one die at the same time to effect instantaneous release of the curved plate. The two sets of brackcts 37-37 are placed in different horizontal planes so that only one set of fingers may be operated during the travel of the die in one direction. and notches 38-38' in the faces of the inner ends of the fingers acommodate the particular bracket 37 or 37' :o be avoided during such travel of the die member.

Fluitable locking mechanism is employed to hold the die siti n a f for each oscillatory movement thereof. One simple way of accomplishing the desired result is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 to exactly the same curva-- member in a horizontal poconsisting of a spring-pressed locking bolt 40 mounted upon the carriage 4 opposite the end of die member 20. This bolt is adapted to seat itself Within a socket 41 having a beveled approach 42 upon each halfturn of the die member, 20. A pivoted lever 43 monnted upon and extending across the carriage 4 is connected to bolt 40, and the ends of this lever are adapted to engage one or the other of two spring pressed pawls 44-45 mounted upon the fixed guide strips 3 at opposite sides of the machine. Pawl 44 is located near the end of the machine and pawl 45 at one side of standard 30, and said pawls are reversely related to unlock bolt 40 byengagement of lever 43 during the travel of carriage'A in opposite directions immediately preceding or at the instant the.

sector gears engage the racks\to turn the die member 20.

The use of oscillatory or invertible dies traveling in opposite directions alternately beneath a pressure-applying device permits cambering operations to proceed on separate plates under uniform timing operations and at a relatively high speed compared with the present mode of cambering leaf springs where the blanks and finished prod nets are manually delivered and removed from presses. Moreover, in the present invention the plates are rolled to the desired camber by linear contact or over a localized pressure area beginning at one end of the plate or spring and finishing at the opposite end thereof, and in quenching the plate a perpendicular quenching result is obtained by the rotatable movement imparted to the dies. The entire area of the cambered plates is also exposed to the quenching liq uid. A rapid cambering operation, uniform standard heats, and perpendicular quenching produce a product of fine quality requiring no peening. Feeding of the blanks may be from one side or both sides of the roller, and such feeding may be accomplished by hand or automatically. In the latter event the automatic mechanism will be associated with the furnace and adapted to co-act in time with the reciproca-ble movements of the carriage and dies. The dies and rollers might be in multiple and arranged side by side in the same tank, and the tank may be equipped with a conveyer to receive and remove the product after its llq eleasa from the bottom die, see dotted lines It is obvious from the foregoing that other forms of the invention and modifications of details thereof may be adopted Without de parting from the spirit'and scope of the invention as set forth herein and in the following claims, and the'claims are to be so construed.

What I claim is:

1. In a spring cambering machine, a horizontally reciprocable carriage, a camber die mounted upon said carriage, and a pressureapplying roller in the path of said die adapted toretire relatively thereto to produoe a cambered plate by a rolling movement.

2. In a spring cambering machine, a reciprocable carriage having an oscillatory .member thereon provided with a plural number of camber dies, a pressure-applying device in the path of said dies, and means to oscillate said member to bring said dies successively in co-acting relations with said pressureapplying device during reciprocable movements of said carriage.

3. In a spring cambering machine, an oscillatory member having a plurality of camber dies mounted thereon, a pressureapplying roller, means to oscillate said memher to place said dies separately in position to co-act With said roller, and means to carry said member past said roller.

4. In a spring cambering machine, ,an oscillatory member having camber dies on opposite sides thereof, a movable carrier for mounting in o posite directions alternately beneath said r0 ler, and means to invert said mounting anddies after passing said roller.

6. A cambering apparatus, comprising standards, a pressure-applying roller slidably mounted upon said standards, a reciprocable carriage having an oscillatory member thereon, camber dies on opposite sides of said member, means to oscillate said member during reciprocable movements of said carriage, and means to reciprocate said car; riage. i-

' 7. In a spring leaf cambering machine, a

camber die, means to invert said die, aressure-applying roller above said die, sel -act ing clamping means to secure the spring lea-f upon the die, and means to effect release of the cambered spring leaf from the clamping means subsequent to inverting thefdie.

8. In a machine for cambering metal plates, a camber die and a traveling carrier therefor, a pressure-applying device in the path of said die, and means to secure the cambered plate successively at different places upon the die following cambering operations.

9. In a machine for cambering spring plates, an invertible camber die and a traveling carrier therefor, a pressure-applying member in the path of said die,gripping devices to secure the plate upon the die sub sequent to cambering operations, and means to actuate said devices to release the cambered plate when in an inverted position.

10. In a machine for cambering spring plates, a pressure-applying device, and a set of dies having reciprocal and turning movements relatively to said device to permit a separate cambering operation upon each forward and return movement of the dies.

11. In a machine for cambering spring plates, an oscillatory member and a reciprocable carriage therefor, camber dies mounted upon said member, racks and sector gears to oscillate said member, and a pressure-applying member located in the path of said dies intermediate said racks.

12. In a machine for cambering spring plates, an oscillatory member having camber dies thereon and a reciprocable carriage therefor, a pressure-applying device in the path of said dies, means at each side of said device to oscillate said member, a locking bolt for said member, and means operable by the movements of said carriage to unlock s'aid bolt preceding oscillatory movements of said member.

13. In a machine for cambering spring plates, an oscillatory member having camber dies and a set of plate ripping fingers for each die, a pressure-app ying device, means to reciprocate said member anddies beneath said device, means tomscillale said member and die subsequent to the travel of said member past said device, and engaging ele ments for said gripping fingers to client lease of the plates from the dies subsequent to cambering operations thereon.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

Gno. E. Karolina, F. C. HARROLD,

copies of thin patent may be obtained to!" live. cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. 1 

